


And at eye sight the world looks different

by Ookomix



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Eudora is very very tired, Family Feels, Gen, Lots and lots of shenanigans, Luther Defense Squad, Middle School, Middle school student Five, Police investigation, Suspense, oh boy, poor five, the Umbrella Family is unreliable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-26 13:29:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19769185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ookomix/pseuds/Ookomix
Summary: Eudora Patch is on an unsolvable investigation, a mass kidnapping targeting children on different schools of the city. Her only hope is to call for the Umbrella Academy, for they have the perfect weapon to help her :a bitter assassin the size of a child.From there, Five discovers a whole new world, one he never thought he needed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically this came from a joke of Five dabbing while yelling "yeet" and that's... it. That's it. But all of my ficlets ideas become massive multi chaptered fanfics sooooo... okay have fun
> 
> Nothing belongs to me.
> 
> English fanfic written by a non-english writer, you've been warned.  
> Enjoy!

piles of papers are tilting dangerously on the already full desk, threatening to spill all over the floor of the precinct. Along with tapes and records and useless evidences, all leading to a cooling case, are pictures of children, young boys and girls who never went home. 

Eudora sighs and rubs her forehead, sipping on her cold cup of coffee. It’s three in the morning, and though she knows she should go home and take some rest, she can’t bring herself to leave her desk, not with the pictures in front of her, staring at her. Those kids need to go home. 

With a tired sigh, Eudora leans back on her chair and takes the pictures again, this time to hide them in a folder, the one of his most important cases. The one she always has in the drawer of her desk. She neatly stacks them inside the baby blue folder and closes it, then she opens her drawer to put it away for the night. She stops as she sees a picture at the bottom of her drawer. A picture of Diego and her. Uh, she thought she got rid of them all… Eudora takes the picture and brings it at eye sight, a smile forming on her lips despite herself. They looked so happy on this… So carefree, Diego was still trying to graduate the academy police, and she was still very very in love with him. With the damned Hargreeves.

Ah, dammit. 

A thought crosses her mind like a bullet. The Hargreeves! Maybe they can help her solve this case and save the growing number of disappearing children! 

Grabbing her coat and her keys and nothing else, Eudora bolts out of the precinct and runs to her car. 

  
  


Diego gets up in instants, from the sofa he fell asleep on, at the sound of the door. He groans and rubs his eyes with the hand that isn’t holding a knife, looking for his phone. Four in the morning? Who the Hell…

It couldn’t be that bad, he hopes, because they spent all of their energy stopping the apocalypse! Please don’t be another apocalypse, he thinks as he runs to the door, hoping the bangings haven’t awakened Mom or Pogo. He opens the main entrance with a hard glare that immediately melts when he finds himself in front of Eudora, alive and well and _ oh _ so beautiful. She looks like she haven’t slept in days, and in her eyes shines a light of hope.

“Oh, hi, Diego… Sorry it’s late and--”

“No, not at all,” Diego hears himself say, opening the door wider. “Come in. Please?” 

Just as always since they stopped the apocalypse, Eudora looks at him like he has a second head, but she nods and walks inside.

“Coffee?” Diego offers. Everything to keep her near him a little longer, to make sure she’s alright and doesn’t need anything. 

“Yeah, I’d like that a lot,” Eudora replies, looking at the house. “How’s your family? It’s been a while since you all found yourselves under the same roof.” He knows she never understood what happened only a few months earlier. She never felt the change in the timeline, how they saved the world by creating another tear in time. So he just shrugs.

“They’re fine. All the usual bitches are pretty much their best-selves.” 

Eudora laughs at that. He makes Eudora laugh. That’s a win. He leads her to the kitchen where he lets her settle as he starts the fancy coffee machine Five bought the same day they came back. He gives her a cup of coffee and she drinks it immediately. 

“So what’s wrong?” 

“I may need your family’s help for a case.” 

Diego tries not to show his disappointment. Of course it’s police matter. Of course. What else? Focusing on helping rather than sulking on his dead and very dead relationship, Diego nods. “Want me to wake them up?” 

“What? No, it’s too early!”

“Need only my help?” 

“I… don’t think so?” 

“Okay,” Diego says as patiently as possible. “Then I have to wait for my family because we now have a strict rule that we don’t hide anything from each other when it’s important and related to more than one of us. Like… we don’t talk about  _ everything _ , but if you need  _ us  _ and not  _ me _ , then you’ll have to wait.” 

Eudora stares at him for a moment, her confusion visible. She eventually nods with a sigh.

“Okay. You’re weirder than ever but… okay.” 

“I will take this as a compliment.”

“No you won’t,” Eudora scoffs.

“I  _ will _ ,” Diego challenges her. “Wanna find somewhere to sleep before I call family meeting?” 

Despite a quick hesitation, Eudora accepts. Whether she likes it or not, they might be her only hope of finding the kids, and Diego knows it. If not, she wouldn’t even have bothered knocking at his door.

  
  


A loud bell rings in the corridors and Eudora gets up in instants from the bed she has fell asleep on. She groans and rubs her eyes with the hand that isn’t holding a gun, then looks for her phone. Seven in the morning? What the Hell? She tries to remember where she is when a voice booming in the hallways reminds her. Diego.

“WAKE UP EVERYBODY! FAMILY MEETING! GET UP! LUTHER, ALLISON, KLAUS, FIVE, BEN, VANYAAA!” 

Eudora then hears noises from all around the house, from different floors as all the family gets up almost at the same time. Almost, she thinks, because she only hears five people getting up. She grabs her discarded shirt with a sigh and gets up as well. She needs to talk to them. She tries not to look too much like an intruder when she enters the kitchen in which almost all of the Hargreeves are settling. There’s a lot of pairs of eyes falling on her, but Diego simply invites her to take a seat as he pours her a cup of coffee.

“Hi, officer,” Allison politely says.

“What is she doing here?” Luther asks Diego, his eyes round. “Did you two…?” 

“What? No,” Eudora says.

“No, nothing like that,” Diego says at the same time.

“I’m here because--”

“--here because she needs help--” 

“--help and I thought…” 

They stop talking in stereo and both look at their coffees, almost in shame. 

“So you need help,” Five says, sipping at his own cup. “I hope this is worth it.” 

“Let her talk,” Ben says with a frown. “This is surely important.” 

Eudora thanks him with a look, and clears her throat. The fourth number is missing from the assembly, but surely it won’t bother Diego if they start without him. 

“I’m on this case… kids are missing, they just… disappear, you know? No lead, no clues, no correlation between them apart from them being kids. Barely teens, you know? And we can’t… we don’t find anything to help. It’s a mass-kidnapping with no way of finding the truth. Fifteen kids are missing already! I think you can help me.” 

“If you don’t have a lead, it’s going to be tough,” Luther replies. “Any luck within the schools?” 

“No,” Eudora sighs. “Alas, no. And I wish we could put undercover agents in schools, but it would be too conspicuous. None of us can fit into the school without raising suspicions. And we can’t risk taking children from these schools as undercover…” 

“Ah, well, that’s too unfortunate,” Five scoffs, “but as you can see, the only children we have here are thirty-year olds, so it would look like a comedy show rather than a police investigation.” 

“Actually…” Allison says. 

And suddenly, much to Eudora’s embarrassment, they all look at Five. Five sips at his coffee, looking at his brothers and sisters in the eyes. 

“I will  _ not _ play the part of a child.” 

“You have the height, you have training to disguise yourself as anything. It would be easy for you!” Eudora presses. “Please, please, I need your help, nobody else can help me! It will be an easy mission for you, you Hargreeves are used to tougher things! Five… Five? Is that your name? Five, I really need you to do this for me.”

The boy opens his mouth to reply but Diego cuts him short.

“Children are missing, Five, we didn’t stop the end of the world just to see the little ones getting mass-targeted. Like she says, easy.” 

“You get in, get intel, get clues, you get out,” Allison points out.

“Unless you aren’t up to the task?” A girl replies from behind her cup of coffee, her voice apologetic but in her eyes burns a flame that looks impossible to smother. 

Eudora feels bad for not replacing her, she’s sure she  _ knows her _ but she wasn’t part of any of the Umbrella Academy comic books… Or any of Diego’s drunk stories. Eudora extends her hand to shakes the girl’s, and she seems to understand the message.

“Hi, I’m Vanya… Number Seven.” 

“Nice to meet you, Vanya,” Eudora says.

All of the other siblings have stopped talking. Five looks really red behind his mug, and he suddenly disappears to angrily spread peanut butter on a toast at the counter.

“I will  _ not  _ play along with this foolish plan! I will  _ not  _ pass as a child in… in what,  _ middle school _ ?” 

Silence follows his outburst. Eudora looks at her coffee, losing hope. Luther and Allison exchange awkward glances, and Diego angrily stabs his piece of fruit. Only Ben and Vanya seem unfazed by the sudden mood change. The door opens on Klaus dressed only with a bathrobe and a large pair of sunglasses as he strolls towards the counter of the kitchen.

“Good morning everyone! Hello, miss Patch, still as beautiful as ever!” He stops, looks at everyone, “... Did I miss something? Five looks like an angry little ball of bitterness, and everyone looks like it’s the apocalypse!” He laughs at his own joke, which Eudora doesn’t get, and settles for tea. “Okay? No one?” 

“Miss Patch has a mission for Five…” Luther says.

“... And Five doesn’t want to help,” Ben finishes. 

Five spits. “We can investigate with more efficient methods, we can solve this problem without having to fall down to this masquerade.” 

“Those words are too long for the morning,” Diego groans next to Eudora, and she can’t help but feel a pang of fondness at him, which is odd, taking the situation she’s in. 

“Okay, what’s the mission? Do you have to kill a president again?--”

“What?” Eudora chokes.

“--Is it another apocalypse? Understanding the mind of a serial killer? Oh! Is it like in the silence of the lamb and we need you to interrogate Hannibal Lecter?” 

“Five has to impersonate a middle school student in order to stop a series of kidnapping,” Allison explains.

Klaus’ expression falls and he puts his sunglasses on his head. “Oh. Is that all? Why all of this fuss, then?” He turns to Five. “It’s going to be an easy mission, one where you can absolutely insult children without this being weird! Are children insulting each other in middle school?” 

“Very much,” Eudora says. “Now, about this president assassination thing--” 

Luther gets up and gets closer to Five who, for once, doesn’t zap out of reach and simply death glares his brother. There’s a too long staring contest between the two, and Eudora just wants to go back to her investigation… or this ‘president assassination’ thing Klaus talked about.

“I don’t want to do this, and you can’t make me.” Five growls at Luther. “None of you can.” 

“At least give it a try?” Vanya asks softly. “Please?” 

Five’s gaze darts from Luther to Vanya to Luther to Vanya again. His expression softens when he looks at his sister, Eudora can almost read guilt. Guilt is a good emotion to work with when trying to make someone do or say something. Whatever he could have done, this can work.

“Children are disappearing,” Vanya continues, “They could be ours. They could be Claire.”

At the name of Allison’s child, the whole room tenses, and Allison straightens on her chair.

“Don’t,” Five snarls. “Don’t even try pulling that rope. Claire is not in danger.” 

“Oh, she’s not,” Vanya says. The brown of her eyes is just slightly turning paler and paler. “But she’s human, normal. Protected by a normal dad, and normal security. Just like those children. If it was her, then?”

“Okay, stop,” Allison whispers.

Eudora is, at this point, melting deeper into her chair in hope of becoming so small she’ll be invisible. She’s about to ask Diego if she can leave and go back to her investigation when Five speaks again.

“FINE I’ll go with your foolish plan.” 

Everyone breathes again in the kitchen. Eudora stays half slipping from her chair, not knowing if everything is settled or if she has to leave running. Klaus turns to her with a high-pitched laugh as he claps his hands. He goes to the table to get closer to Eudora, putting his hands in Ben’s shoulders as he leans forward.

“That’s settled, then! We’re going to help you!” 

“ _ I _ ’m helping her!” Five interjects. “There’s no  _ we _ !” 

“Oh come on, now,” Klaus says with a huff. Oh boy this isn’t over. “You, alone around a bunch of teenagers, hoping not to raise attention? You need a coach, and I… happen to be the best you’ll ever have in this matter.” 

Somewhat, Eudora is sure Klaus just insulted himself with panache.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five is preparing for his mission, not yet aware of what's waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoohoo, Next chapter!   
> Thank you for all the love and the comments and kudos it was surprising and heartwarming ♥  
> Enjoy!

Five looks at the pictures laid in front of him on the table of the interrogation room. That’s… a lot of missing kids. He pinches the bridge of his nose, unable to concentrate with Diego and Klaus talking behind him. The two of them have, for some reason, followed him in the precinct, and everyone is thinking they’re his two dads just like this embarrassing moment at the Super Star. And they can’t seem to shut up about this.

“Away with your idle conversations!” Five says with anger. “I am trying to concentrate!” 

“Hey, hey, we’re here to help!” Diego huffs. 

“Yeah, don’t talk to your dad like that!” Klaus uselessly adds with a frown.

Five whines.

“Why am I here? With you two of all people?” He turns on his heels to face his brothers who have turned to bicker again about the situation. “Why don’t you just call the kids and ask them who killed them?” 

Klaus pales a little. “Ok so, first, rude of you to assume they’ve been killed, alright? They can still be alive. And excuse me if I don’t find that funny to try and summon dead kids. We don’t have the same kink, you and I.” 

Diego fiercely nods. “And it’s unlikely they know what really happened to them. It’s your job.” 

Eudora enters the room before Five can think of a way to kill Diego, she holds a baby blue folder in her hands. “Okay boys, I have the files. Not the same school for those children, just two of them. But a lot of schools are being targeted, in random areas. No pattern, no m.o, just… children missing after school. Whether they take the bus or go home walking. Some of them even just disappear during lunch break! Imagine the storm of panic and paranoia, nobody would take their children to school anymore!” 

“The teachers?”

“No new teachers out of the ordinary in those schools. Those who arrived last were all deeply interrogated. We’re trying to keep everyone on our line of sight but…” She sighs. 

“Where do you want me to go?” Five asks, as practical as ever.

“Swan Lake School. It’s… quaint… cute and all, with three hundred students, more or less, very green and all, but it’s still a public school with its troubles and kids going home alone.” 

Five huffs. It’s going to be an easy mission. A boring one, also. But easy. 

“So you want me to integrate the school then search it for any clues.” 

Easy.

“Actually…” Eudora bites her lips. “I was hoping you could stick around long enough to find something but… not search the school. It would raise suspicions and we can’t afford this. No, you need to act like a student.” 

“This is stupid,” Five says. 

Klaus pats his head with a mad laugh. “You’re going to have your first year in school  _ ever _ , Five!” 

“Leave me alone, you lunatic! Can I at least have a word about my new identity?” 

“Yes, sure, no problem!” Eudora beams, “What name would you want? Would you like something specific in your background?”

“Is a name required?” 

“You don’t have to keep it afterwards,” Diego points out. “It’s just…  _ Five _ isn’t the best name, and you’re going to get busted in days.” 

Five sighs and thinks about it. It’s not going to be his name, anyway, it’s going to be some stupid teenager’s name. A role he plays. 

“Don’t let them play my two fathers. I mean it. My name will be… Quentin.” 

“Like Quentin Tarantino?” Klaus asks. “I like your style!” 

Five doesn’t even bother correcting him and explaining why this name. He turns to Eudora and smirks.

“Quentin Hayes, student at Swan Lake School. Take a note of that, okay? Name just a mother on the papers, it’s going to be simpler. Also, you will mark me as slight hearing-impaired ma--teenager, and I will use it as an excuse to keep my earpiece at anytime. You’ll give me my unofficial papers along with the police contract, and everything will be settled.” 

“Nice and pro,” Eudora whistles while shaking Five’s hand. “I like that.” 

And Five can’t agree more. 

He receives his papers two days after, with a school certificate and a list of school supplies, his contract with the police and all the security disclosures going with it. School has started only two weeks before. Uh… Already two weeks into September? He didn’t see time pass as the Hargreeves were training Vanya and Ben and Klaus into their powers. Well, school always seemed far away, and now… Now he’s going to be a student. For the first time. It’s both intriguing and humiliating. But he told Eudora he would help her, and he’s not going to back down this close to start the plan. He folds his papers and slides them into his newly bought backpack, a simple one strap bag unicolored in black.He looks at it with a pensive stare, wondering how it’s going to be like, if he can ignore all this or if this mission is going to be the death of him. 

A knock on his door get him out of this loop of questions, and he raises his head… and sighs. 

“Allison,” he greets her as formally as he can, aware he has been caught daydreaming. “What can I do for you?” 

She enters in silence and sits on his bed, biting her lips and Five can see she’s dying to say something. She just… has been careful with her words, lately. With her voice. 

“I wanted to thank you. I know it’s not an easy mission for you. I know it’s… degrading, to say the least. Trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve played some weird roles. But… The fact that Claire has been the triggering point, it’s… It means something to me. I know we’ve been… separated and all… And I could only show her to you with skype and things like that but… You will meet her. You will meet her.” 

A warm feeling pools in Five’s chest at Allison’s confession, and he can’t help but let escape a slight grin on his face. 

“I will be delighted to.” He clears his throat, tries not to fall too deep into feelings. “Was there something else?” 

“Ah, uh, yes.” Allison’s eyes dart towards the backpack, then his wardrobe. “School doesn’t have… uniforms. You have to get changed. And since you only have our old costumes to wear--” 

“My own choice, thank you very much,”

“--We have to go shopping. Klaus wanted to be part of it but… You and I. Just you and I. So you can be stylish but normally dressed.”

“Uh.” 

He didn’t think about that. He has to  _ change _ . He scoffs and waves his hand.

“Do you need me to choose clothes? Just take something casual but distinguished.” 

“You won’t go to school in a suit, Five Hargreeves.  _ Quentin  _ will not go to school in a suit. You will wear normal clothes to look like a normal kid. And that is all. And you will help me choose.” 

Five stares at her, not wielding, until he realizes she may be more stubborn than he is on this type of discussions. Truth is, he doesn’t care. It was just simpler to dress like this. 

“Fine, have it your way. How long is it going to take?” 

“Depends on you,” she replies with a wink.

Six hours. Six hours is the time they took to choose clothes from different stores, because so few of them were actually to Five’s taste. Hell, he didn’t even know he had a taste before this. Allison has been patient and understanding, standing in front of dressing cabines while Five awkwardly tried numerous clothes, always grumbling and finding something that wouldn’t suit him. He already misses his school uniform. So simple… 

In the end Allison is quite happy with their choices, bags and bags of clothes for him to be comfortable in school, and Five thinks of all the tidying he has to do to his room for all of this to fit. He’ll ask Grace, she won’t say no. 

They enter the house and Five immediately goes to Grace to ask her to clean his room, and Grace turns with a bright smile and accepts without batting an eyelid, most certainly to Diego’s outrage as he looks at this. Luther prevents him from jumping at Five’s throat.

“You don’t treat her like a fancy vacuum cleaner!” Diego spits at Five.

“I don’t, I’m simply using her skills to my benefits. Anyway, why are you here?” 

“... It’s our living room too,” Luther says with his most I-am-innocent face. 

“Bullshit. Why?” Five interrogates them. “You can’t stand each other, there must be a reason you’re in the same room.” 

The first numbers look at each other before sighing.

“We wanted to make sure everything was… okay… for you,” Luther eventually says.

“It’s quite coming to plan. It is going to be simple and efficient.” 

“Yeah well, you’ll have Klaus on your earpiece to help you understand teens. Eudora’s treat,” Diego sneers. “So yes, we’re worried about you.” 

“Sorry, I’ll have  _ what _ ? What was she thinking??” 

“Klaus convinced her that you would threaten every police officer working with you. He’s a clever bastard and you know that. I just think that deep down he just wants to be part of a police investigation where he’s  _ not  _ the culprit.” 

Five groans and climbs the step by little jumps of his powers, ready to hide in his room and never hear about his family again. 

Grace is still tidying his room when he arrives, whistling while rearranging the closet.

“There you are! I was putting away all of your old uniforms, so you can put something else inside your closet!” 

Five raises an eyebrow. “I never asked you to do that.” 

Grace turns towards him, her usual non-faltering smile on her lips. “You don’t have to, honey, your brothers told me you and Allison were going shopping, and it’s time to put on something new! Oh, you will be so beautiful in civilian clothes! You’re already charming in your uniform.” 

“... Thanks,” Five replies with an embarrassing blush on his cheeks. He’s normally not so weak for compliments, and he knows Grace will never talk them down, but this one got to him. He puts the bags of clothes on the bed and start folding them in a military manner except for the shirts and jackets and coat. These ones will go on hangers to make sure no wrinkle would be apparent. He finds himself helping Grace despite everything, and keeps his hands occupied not to think of this mission.

The last dinner before Five’s first day at school, the entire brotherhood is jittery and anxious, and it doesn’t help Five’s mood. The fifth member of the family eyes Klaus who looks perfectly fine, if not really excited. 

“What’s on your mind, number four?” Five finally drops. 

“Have you looked at all the videos I sent you?” Klaus asks before Five can even finish his question.

“... Yes.” 

“Questions?” 

“This can’t be depicting the teenagehood of today.”

“Oh but it  _ is _ ! You just have to grasp the essence, the concept of teenagehood! And you’ll be fine! You’re a sociopath,  _ Quentin _ , you can be whoever you want! And for a few weeks, you have to be…” he shamelessly dabs. “A kid!” 

Five blushes with embarrassment and drops his fork and knife, leaving the table as fast as he can. The others stay silent for a moment. Then Ben, who knows his brother by heart by now, frowns.

“What have you done? What did you show him, Klaus?” 

Klaus’ smile becomes mischievous. “Vines. Thousands of Vines and Tik Tok clips.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Klaus...  
> NEXT


End file.
